


A Swim Gone Wrong

by TheBigLoserQueen



Series: Merpeople AU [3]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Angst, Fear, Gen, Human, Interspecies, Interspecies Relationship(s), Kidnapping, Merpeople
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 22:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11999532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBigLoserQueen/pseuds/TheBigLoserQueen
Summary: Eclipse and her friends go out to swim with the mermaids. They hadn't expected to run into a sharkticon.





	A Swim Gone Wrong

Eclipse enjoyed swimming and snorkeling, but she hadn't been able to go recently. Her parents needed more help with the shop since there had been a rush of tourists recently. They had already had a lot of tourism before, but the idea of seeing and swimming with merfolk was too much for someone to pass up. The islanders themselves were taken to the idea too. 

Which is why she and her friends were out there. She had finally gotten a free day in her schedule and she and her old college friends decided to maybe try to find some merfolks to swim with. According to rumors, they were friendly that they didn't attack humans. If anything, they would swim away if they felt frightened or would fight back if they were being attacked.

It was the sharkticons they had to watch out for. Another subgroup of mermaids, much more ferocious and willingly to attack if one got to close. Eclipse had only read about them in papers and such, but she had read the reports of what damage they could do. It was frightening, but luckily, her friend Thomas had assured them that there weren't a whole lot of sharkticons in the area they were.

So she, Marie, Robert, and Karina were in the water, looking around for mermaids. They had found a few, but they had all quickly swam away when they had gotten to closer. They had been bummed at first, but only the full-grown ones had made a run for it. The little ones, child mermaids, were much more curious. They seemed to sense she and her friends weren't a threat and happily swam near them.

Thomas was on the boat, watching the waters and not all that interested in mermaids like they had been. Though he would never admit it, he wasn't the best swimmer either. He would rather drive his boat around with friends and drink rather than swim.

She felt a tap on her shoulder, causing her to turn to see Marie point up to the surface. Both women kicked up their legs until their heads were out of the water, Marie removing her mask before to show a huge smile on her face.

"They're so cute," she giggled, bobbing above the water. "I want one."

"They're not goldfish," Eclipse chuckled. But she understood the sentiment, they were rather adorable. The two merchildren that had been swimming with her were giggly and clingy, curious about her swimsuit and her hair. They would lightly tug on her, but nothing more than that. "But at least their parents don't seem to mind them with us."

"Well we don't have nets or anything like those people up at the center do." She gestured in the direction of the aquarium, a sour look on her face. "It's because they keep trying to catch them and put them on display that the mermaids run away in the first place."

Eclipse could only nod with a small shrug. She knew how Marie felt about the aquarium... To be perfectly honest, she wasn't a fan of them either. She had gone to it when she had been a child, her parents taking her and her siblings on family outings, but now that she was older, she knew better than to give that place any money. They didn't exactly treat their animals with the best care.

And now that mermaids were a hot new commodity, they were trying to get their hands on them for display. They had a few for a short while, but someone had gone in there and released them. She imagined it was some animal rights activists, but she didn't really read too much into it. She was just glad that those mermaids had gotten out.

Suddenly, Karina and Robert popped back out of the water. They turned around to see them pulling off their masks, Marie smiling. "Got tired of swimming?" 

"No," Karina said, shaking her head. "Did you see where the kids went?"

Eclipse and Marie just looked confused. But then started to realize that the merchildren had stopped poking and tugging a while ago. All four put their masks back on and dipped back into the water. Sure enough, there wasn't a merchild in sight. Confused, they swam around a little more, going a little deeper as they tried to find where they could have gone.

Eclipse finally spotted them; they were all huddled together, looking around and appearing nervous. Kicking off from the surface, her friends in tow and Thomas' muffle calls drowning out, she moved closer to the nervous babes. Just as she was about to reach out, the children screamed and darted off into a reef bed, squeezing into places they couldn't follow.

Eclipse turned back to the others, all three shrugging and just as confused as she was. Now she was getting anxious. Mermaids would swim off if they didn't feel safe, but they never screamed and darted off like that. Their parents hadn't done that when they had approached them.

Robert turned around to looking behind them before his muffled shouts and harsh kicks turned the others.

They turned and froze up in terror. There, coming towards them, was a hulking giant of a sharkticon. It was massive, long and grey with black and red tinges to its skin. Eyes blood red as it locked on them. Robert, Marie, and Karina all started kicking and swimming to the surface, Eclipse close behind. Just as they reached the surface, gasping for air and panicking, the shark shot forward.

Eclipse could feel her blood chill as the sharkticon circled them. It didn't lunge forward, but that didn't mean it wouldn't. Circling was never a good sign... The four of them huddled together, Karina starting to panic and cling to her and Robert. She could hear Robert's breathing getting faster while Marie was just shaking like a leaf. Eclipse tried to keep herself from panicking, her eyes darting between the circling shark and the boat.

She could see Thomas standing there, eyes wide with a look of horror on his face. That must have been what he had been yelling about before they all went under. He must have seen the sharkticon first...

Marie's hand grabbed her arm tightly. "Wh-What do we do?"

"I-I don't know..."

"We have to get back to the boat," Robert said, though he made no move towards it, keeping his arm around Karina instead. The last thing he wanted was to get ripped apart by that thing. It was monstrous! It could easily rip him apart and still go after the others.... Unless there were more sharkticons nearby. In which case, they were all as good as dead.

Eclipse gasped when the circle starting smaller. Karina and Marie shrieked while Robert just stayed frozen in terror. Primus, someone had to distract him, but that wasn't even a guarantee they would all make it back to the boat...

Then she saw Thomas throw something in the opposite direction of the boat, making a hard and loud splash. The sharkticon froze up, his body turning into the direction of the splash. Eclipse gasped when she saw red seeping from whatever was thrown, but it was enough for the other three to start kicking and splashing towards the water. It was enough for to swim too, making a mad dash for the boat.

Karina was already pulling herself into the boat, Marie still on the latter with Robert waiting in the water. But before Eclipse could get closer, a huge body moved in between her and the boat. She lurched backwards, eyes widening in terror while her friends screamed out to her. The sharkticon brushed against her leg, causing her to flinch back in fright.

"Eclipse!” Robert pushed away from the ladder to try and help.

"D-Don't!" She waved a hand at him to just get on the boat. If they had a chance to get out of here, they needed to take it. The sharkticon was obviously focused on her, his tail continuously brushing against her and pushing her further from the boat. If he wanted to eat her, then struggling wasn’t going to do her any good. The most she could do was just get far enough away to give them a chance at getting out of there.

A hand brushed against her arm, jerking away as the sharkticon reached out for her. Eclipse wasn't sure if he was trying to grab her, causing her to flinch back and try to avoid him. But the shark just continued to circle, brush against her, and touch her. What was he doing?

Eclipse took a moment to glance to the boat, letting out a relieved sigh when she saw her friends were safely on the boat. They were just standing there now, watching her and the sharkticon in fear. She almost gestured for them to leave when she realized the sharkticon had disappeared for a moment. Then she gasped out in fear when she felt something press against her stomach. Her body locked up, looking down to find the sharkticon nuzzling his face against her skin.

Primus, was he getting ready to attack? To start ripping into her stomach and turning her into an afternoon meal? A number of research books did state sharks would bump their prey than attack... And he had already pumped into her plenty of times. Was it the same for sharkticons? Was he gearing up to start attacking?

Then the sharkticon looked at her right through the water. Her eyes widened, taken by surprised by the intelligence in those red eyes. Slowly, those eyes grew closer as the sharkticon rose from the water, never breaking his gaze.

Eclipse swallowed, looking up and down the creatures. Perhaps this sharkticon was just curious about her, about all of them. Maybe sharkticons were like the other mermaids and weren't that aggressive. Maybe they showed more aggression when they felt threatened than the others did. After all, he hadn't... hurt her yet and was now showing himself to her.

Suddenly, the shark's arm rose out of the water. Tensing, Eclipse watched as his webbed hand opened, cradling a large black pearl. Her eyes widened, looking back up at him before turning back to the peal. Black pearls were already rare, but one this size was even more so. She couldn't understand why he was giving it to her or why he even had it. This couldn't have been easy to find...

The sharkticon moved his hands closer to her, urging her to take the pearl. Though hesitant, she didn't want to agitate the creature. Giving him a shaky nod, she gently took the pearl from him and held it tightly in a fist. The shark watched her for a moment before a small smirk came over his face. She was shocked, but couldn't say anything as he disappeared back under the water. 

She gasped, looking around for a moment as she waddled in the water. But he didn't return and she couldn't see him beneath her. Taking the chance, Eclipse made a break for the boat, clutching onto the pearl tightly.

Karina, Marie, Robert and Thomas shouted and cheered, urging her to get to the boat faster. The sharkticon was still no where to be seen, but that didn't mean he wasn't hiding. For all they knew, he was attempting to do a sneak attack. But he never came back up before she made it to the boat, Thomas and Robert pulling her inside as she gasped and panted, the fear suddenly coming over her.

She honestly thought she was going to die. She could have sworn she had looked death right in the face... but she lived. He didn't hurt her. He just gave her a pearl... a pearl she was still holding tightly in her hand, even as Karina and Marie moved to sit her up right.

"What happened?!" Karina cried, she and Marie hugging Eclipse close. "Are you okay?!"

"I don't... know." She hugged Karina back, though she moved to open her palm to stare the pearl.  Something of this size and this rare... It would be worth so much.

Karina and Marie pulled away, allowing Eclipse to sit back against the side, cradling the pearl in her hand. Marie looked down to see it, surprised to see such a rare gem in her hand.

"It gave that to you?" she asked, marveling the strange gift.

"Y-Yeah... yeah, he did..."

"It gave you a gift?" Thomas asked, leaning down to see what she was holding.

"I... guess so."

Eclipse looked out into the water, still confused as to why he would have given her this. He clearly wanted her to have it, for whatever reason... And he hadn't done anything to her or her friends, so he couldn't have been a bad creature. Though the merchildren did swim off in terror. Then again, he was a sharkticon; they probably ate mermaids just like how normal sharks ate fish. She honestly wasn't sure.

But that didn't matter at this point. At least they were all alive... and they would definitely have a hell of a story to tell.

* * *

Eclipse decided not to tell her family about what had happened; it would have given her mother unnecessary stress and there was no way she could do that to the woman. Besides, after the whole sharkticon incident, they had gotten back to the island without issue. They decided to try swimming again with the mermaids tomorrow, though they definitely would have been going to a different location next time. That sharkticon had been friendly for now, but that didn't guarantee he would stay that way. They all agreed it was best to move to a different part of the ocean to go swimming. 

So she had come home and showed her mother the pearl, claiming she had found it by the reef. Radar was surprised, but happily agreed to her request to turn it into a necklace. The thought of selling it did cross her mind, but it was technically a gift. It would seem insulting to just sell it, even if she was going to put it towards her family's business. Besides, it wasn't as if she knew how to go about selling a pearl. She didn't even know how much this thing could be worth. And it was so beautiful... There was no way she could sell it.

So a necklace would have to do. Her mother was good at making jewelry, albeit simple. So she helped her turned the pearl into a pendant for a pretty leather necklace. Probably not the best chain for a pearl, but it was all they had. It was enough for her and it would have been easier to swim with.

And when the next week came, she and her friends went out on the boat with her wearing her new necklace. It really was pretty... She would definitely have to get a better chain for it and maybe find something nice to wear it with. It would be a perfect necklace to wear with a nice dress...

"You kept it?"

She snapped out of her thoughts, turning to Marie. When she gestured to the pearl, Eclipse smiled and nodded. "It's pretty, don't you think?"

"It came from a sharkticon that could have ripped you in half," Karina said, monotone and looked almost appalled.

Eclipse shrugged. It did probably seem weird to keep it, but she hadn't been hurt and neither had they. And he had been kind enough to give it to her, whatever his reasons might have been. Besides, it wasn't as if they would ever see the sharkticon again. They knew now to avoid that area since that was no doubt the sharkticon’s territory.

Thomas soon slowed the boat down, Robert giving him a thumbs up when they reached the right spot. Once the boat was anchored, Marie and Eclipse stood up to start getting ready along with Robert. Karina was more than content to stay on the boat with Thomas, at least for a little bit. As much as she liked swimming around, after last week, she wasn't too eager to swim just yet. So she switched places with Robert, moving to sit next to Thomas.

The other three were fine with that. Maybe Karina would be willing to join them once they found some mermaids and once she realized the sharkticon wasn't coming around. But just as Eclipse moved to take off her shirt, the boat wobbled.

"What the-?" Robert looked across the boat, seeing everyone was still on their feet.

The boat wobbled again, though with a loud thud that made Marie tense up. "Wh-What was that?"

Eclipse and Karina exchanged glances, looking to Thomas. He didn't look sure either, biting his lip as he looked around the water. It couldn't have been the current... The water was pretty calm and still. And currents didn't make thudding sounds like that...

Another loud thud echoed as the boat shook harder than before.

"S-Something's hitting the boat!" Karina screamed, gripping her seat tightly.

Another hit to the boat caused them to fall. Marie shrieked as she fell against Robert, both of them tumbling to the floor. Eclipse grunted as she landed on the side seats of the boat, using the side railing to catch herself. Panicking, she looked over the side and saw large bodies move about the water. Just what the hell was attacking-?!

"Get back!"

Robert suddenly snatched her shoulders just before large grey hands launched from the water. She shrieked as she was pulled back on top of him, Marie and Karina screaming when the boat was knocked again from both sides. Eclipse could only lie there on the floor, terror coming over her. She had recognized those hands. The same one that had given her the pearl... Primus, how was this possible?! Why was he here?!

"They're everywhere!" Karina screamed, watching as a number of fins and scales broke the surface. There were at least ten of them, varying in size and limbs. A large purple creature, a humanoid torso with an octopus body for its lower half, managed to pull itself onto the boat, its eyes locked on Eclipse. More and more thuds followed, rocking the boat back and forth.

Robert cursed under his breath. He reached over and grabbed a harpoon gun from the boat's side, aiming for the octopus creature as its limbs reached out for Eclipse. Screaming, she stumbled back and out of the way as Robert took the shot. She tried to move herself far away from the octopus thing, but instead ended up falling against the side of the boat. Then she made the mistake of trying to sit up, just as another thud made her lose her balance and fall over the side of the railing with a loud splash.

"Eclipse!" Thomas and Marie shouted, both of them rushing to the sides to see Eclipse shoot up to the surface, gasping for air as she struggled to keep herself afloat. She desperately tried to get her bearings. She looked up to see she had fallen not too far from the boat, but it had been knocked further away because of their attacks.

Karina screamed again when the octopus creature quickly slithered off the boat, slipping back deep into the water. She was starting to cry hysterically while Thomas and Marie ran to the side of the boat, looking to see Eclipse still bobbing in the water... with dark figures closing in on her.

"Eclipse! Swim away!"

Eclipse didn't even get a chance to process what Marie had said. A webbed hand was suddenly at her leg and pulled her down. She let out a scream before she was pulled under the water, accidentally swallowing some sea water as she struggled and kicked at whatever had. She would have gagged, but she didn't want to lose what little oxygen she had left.

Then something was pushed into her mouth. It was like a small water balloon, but once it was in her mouth completely, and her jaw forced down, the 'balloon' popped and a strange gelatin substance oozed into her mouth. It was like soft drink or even alcohol by how it fizzled and burnt as it travelled down her throat. Tickling her throat caused her to cough, unable to control the reaction she sucked in seawater, feeling it run into her mouth and lungs...but nothing happened.

"W-What?" Primus, she could speak underwater, she could breathe! What was going on?!

But she didn't have time to really ponder on it when she saw the sharkticon from before suddenly in front of her. She panicked, trying to swim back away from him. All she ended up doing was running into another body, causing her to scream as she tried to move away again. But arms suddenly moved to wrap around her, pulling her back against the sharkticon who had given her the pearl in the first place.

She screamed, struggling as her fear and panic rose. But all she could see was more and more of the creatures come up closer to her as she was being held and restrained. Then, before she could do anything else, the sharkticon and his pod swam off with her held tightly against his body.

Eclipse couldn’t even scream, too paralyzed with fear. Primus, was this the end? Was she going to be eaten alive and ripped apart by these creatures?! Maybe the pearl wasn't a gift, but a marker. A marker to show just what the next target was for a feeding frenzy and she had foolishly turned it into a necklace.

She slumped in his grip, the fear being too much to handle. She just hoped she wouldn’t be awake when they finally ate her. 

* * *

Eclipse's eyes slowly fluttered open, groaning as realized she wasn't in the water anymore... But she was cold. And stiff. And she felt gross and sticky from the salt water. Still, the fact she had feeling in her body at all told her she wasn't dead.

She slowly sat up, trying to adjust her eyes. She was still wearing her t-shirt and her bikini, the necklace still there and secure around her neck. She didn't seem to have any bite marks or bruises... Her hand reached up to clutch at her neck. She still remembered how... how she was able to breathe underwater. She could scream and talk and breathe…

But she hadn’t been able to escape. Looking around though… Something wasn’t right.

She was clearly on land. And in a house or some sort of shelter. Looking around, she realized she was lying on a couch. This… had to be some sort of cabin. A small one, like the ones they had lined up on the beaches for their rich tourists. There was a small living room across a kitchenette… And she could see a bedroom behind an open door.

She looked to the left to see there was a window above her. Quickly, she sat up on her knees to look outside. The sun was now just starting to set and it was high tide, coming up to about six feet to the front of this little house or whatever it was. But out in the water, she could see it. Fins above the water, circling through the sea.

Her heart almost stopped as she ducked under the window, clamping her hands down over her mouth. They had brought her here. That… sharkticon and the others. Though why they had brought her to some sort of beach house was beyond her at this point. She was still trying to figure out why they had brought her here and didn’t just eat her.

“I really think you could have done this better.”

Her eyes widened at the voice. Who on Earth-?! She jumped back up on her knees to peer out the window again. On the shore, close to the little house, were two sharkticons. The one who had given her the pearl and another close to his sides, though his tail was of the grayer and golden complexion and mix of colors.

“What would you have suggested then?” the slightly bigger sharkticon said.

“Literally anything else probably would have been better.”

Eclipse paled, her blood growing cold. Oh Primus… The sharkticons… They could talk?! They could talk, she was hearing them… She pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t dream or hadn’t gone crazy. And when it hurt, she realized this was very much reality. That she really had been kidnapped by talking sharkticons for reasons she still didn’t know…

“Lord Megatron.”

The new voice caught Eclipse’s attention, snapping out of her thoughts. The octopus-creature from before had crawled up onto the beach, bowing to the largest sharkticon. He called him Lord Megatron… He must have been the alpha of that pod that had attacked Thomas’s boat.

“What is it?”

“The humans finally returned to their island.”

“So they’ve given up their search?”

“For now. But humans are stubborn; they will attempt to locate Miss Eclipse unless they have unreasonable doubt they will never find her.”

“Perhaps we should have actually talked to her pod before just taking her, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Be quiet, Bombrush.”

She watched the other – Bombrush – huff and shake his head. Then he turned to the octopus-creature. “Come on, Shockwave. Let’s leave him to his new mate; I’ll help with setting up a perimeter.”

The octopus… No, Shockwave, eyed Bombrush for a few moments before glancing to Megatron. When he merely raised his hand in a dismissing motion, Shockwave bowed before taking off back towards the sea. Bombrush took a glance back in her direction, causing her to stiffen. But he didn’t say anything and his expression didn’t change before he followed Shockwave, leaving Megatron on the beach alone…

And he was already moving towards the front entrance. She gasped, looking around to see if she could escape anywhere. They didn’t seem to be a back door… But maybe she could climb out a window. On land, she should have been able to outrun him. She had no idea where she would go or even where she was. But she had to do something. She couldn’t just sit here and-!

The door suddenly opened. Eclipse froze up as the large sharkticon shuffled in the room, his head turning to lock onto her. She pressed back into the furniture, never taking her eyes off the creature who was now smirking at her.

“You’re awake.”

She didn’t answer, clinging to the couch armrest.

“Are you hurt? You fell unconscious after we took you from your pod.”

Aside from being absolutely terrified, she wasn’t hurt. Wet and cold, but otherwise uninjured. She couldn’t find her voice, but she feared giving no answer would only make him angry. She forced herself to nod, flinching back as he moved closer.

“I hope this–” he gestured to the house around her “–is to your liking. Shockwave explained how you would need a more adequate shelter, so I ordered this constructed for you.”

That brought more stress than comfort. He had had this built? She looked around the room she was in. It may have been small, but it was well built. And the furniture was comfortable and everything looked to be more expensive than anything she had owned. Which mean that, what had happened, him kidnapping her… He had planned it. He had planned all of it.

There was no way this little house could have been built in a single day. Which meant that, long before last week when he had given her the pearl, he knew who she was. He planned on dragging her here and keeping her here for Primus knew what reason and there was nothing she could do… Just who was this sharkticon? And why did he even want to kidnap her in the first place?

“If you wish to bathe, there is a small waterfall behind this shelter. More… clothes are in the room there.” He pointed to the bedroom. “And let me know when you’re hungry, I will hunt for food. Shockwave assured me there is already nonperishable food for you here already, but I figured you would require fish from time to time.”

She could only nod, not sure what else to do. Hell, she was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that a sharkticon was even able to get all of this for her!

Then she gasped when he was suddenly right beside her, his hands planting on the couch to keep her trapped and looking at him. She would have screamed, but there wasn’t any point. There was no one here to help her. All she could do was sit there, trembling as he pressed his face against her naked stomach.

She didn’t know what to do, let alone think. She… She was stuck here. She didn’t know why, there was no way to escape… And there was nothing she could do to try and change that. She couldn’t even find the courage to ask him anything! She just sat there and let his head nuzzle her stomach.

This was a nightmare. And she prayed it would end soon.


End file.
